Search Results

The Climax Molybdenum Deposit, Colorado
From abstract: The largest single metal-mining operation in the history of mining in Colorado has been developed at Climax, as a result of the increased use of molybdenum in the steel and other industries. Production of molybdenum at Climax was notable for a short period during the World War; it ceased from April 1919 to August 1924 but since then has shown a steady increase. In 1930 from 1,000 to 1,200 tons of ore was milled daily, using only one unit of the 2,000-ton mill. The mine has a reserve of broken ore sufficient to furnish 2,000 tons daily for 3 years and is being developed to continue to furnish this and a still further increased output as the use of the metal may warrant.
Kodiak and Vicinity Alaska
From abstract: Kodiak Island, although the site of the earliest white settlement in Alaska and the center of a vigorous fishing industry, is still largely unexplored, except for a strip immediately adjacent to the shores. The heavy growth of vegetation makes access to the interior of the island difficult, and few trails penetrate far from the coast. Mining activity in the past has been confined to somewhat desultory exploitation of beach sands, which in places carry gold, though some gold-bearing lodes have been staked, and a few unsuccessful attempts at lode mining have been made.
Notes on the Geology of the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands
Abstract: During the spring of 1932 an opportunity was offered by the United States Navy for a geologist to accompany an expedition organized to make a reconnaissance of the western part of Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. This expedition visited several localities the geology of which was little known. It was found, as had already been expected, that the islands west of Unimak Pass are composed mainly of basic volcanic lavas and fragmental materials, into which have later been injected dikes, sills, and considerable masses of intrusive rocks, some of which are of acidic types and of granitic texture. These westward islands are bordered both to the north and south by depressions 2,000 fathoms or more in depth, and the islands have apparently been built up from that depth by the ejection and extrusion of volcanic materials since early Tertiary time. No rocks of proved pre-Tertiary age were seen, and the only sedimentary materials present may well have been derived from the erosion of the volcanic islands after they were built up above sea level. On the Alaska Peninsula pre-Tertiary sediments through which the volcanic materials broke to the surface are abundantly present. There is evidence that all the larger islands and the higher portions of the peninsula were severely glaciated during Pleistocene time. Each of the larger islands was the center of ice accumulation and dispersal, and the present topography, except upon recently active volcanic cones, shows strongly the effects of glacial sculpture.
Kodiak and Adjacent Islands, Alaska
From abstract: The Kodiak group of islands, having an area of 4,900 square miles, lie on the Pacific Ocean side of the base of the Alaska Peninsula. Although the town of Kodiak is the oldest continuously occupied white settlement in Alaska, the interior of many of the islands is still little explored and unmapped, for the heavy growth of vegetation makes inland travel difficult, and few trails penetrate far from the coast.
Geology and Fuel Resources of the Southern Part of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico: Part 3. The La Ventana-Chacra Mesa Coal Field
From abstract: This report describes the geology and coal deposits of an area including about 1,000 square miles in southeastern San Juan, northwestern Sandoval, and northeastern McKinley Counties, in northwestern New Mexico.
Some Mining Districts of Eastern Oregon
From abstract: This report presents the results of a reconnaissance of most of the mining districts of Oregon east of the Cascade Range, with the exception of the districts in the Sumpter quadrangle. The districts described are distributed through an area roughly coincident with the Blue Mountains, which extend over much of the northeast quarter of the State.
Geology and Mineral Resources of the Western Part of the Arkansas Coal Field
From introduction: This report describes the mineral resources of the western part of the Arkansas coal field and considers the features of geologic structure and stratigraphy that are essential to an understanding of the nature of occurrence of the mineral resources. The area is an irregular-shaped tract of about 1,100 square miles in Scott, Sebastian, Crawford, Franklin, and Logan Counties, in west-central Arkansas.
Geology and Fuel Resources of the Southern Part of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico: Part 2. The Mount Taylor Coal Field
From introduction: The present report describes the general geology and the economic resources of the [Mount Taylor Coal] field. The area adjoining this on the west was mapped by Sears; the area adjoining on the north was mapped by Dane.
The Kaiyuh Hills, Alaska
From introduction: The present report states the results of an exploratory survey of the Kaiyuh Hills during the summer of 1934.
Geology of the Tonsina District, Alaska
From introduction: The purpose of this paper is to describe the geology and mineral resources of a part of the Copper River Basin between the Richardson Highway and the valley of the Klutina River, together with small areas east of the highway and west of the river. For convenience in reference this area is called the Tonsina district, as the Tonsina River and Tonsina Lake are conspicuous local geographic features, and the Tonsina Road House, on the highway at the crossing of the river, is one of the oldest and best-known settlements in the Copper River Basin.
Upper Copper and Tanana Rivers, Alaska
From introduction: Two field parties, one topographic, the other geologic, were engaged in making surveys in the section of the Alaska Range between the Nabesna and Big Tok Rivers in 1934. Most of the area surveyed was on the northeast side of the range, within a drainage area that is tributary to the Nabesna and Tanana Rivers, but it also included a small part of the Copper River Basin.
Phosphate Rock Near Maxville, Philipsburg, and Avon, Montana
From abstract: This paper gives the results of a resurvey of certain areas in Montana to which renewed interest has been directed by the development recently of a market for crude phosphate rock in British Columbia, nearby.
The Girdwood District, Alaska
From abstract: The Girdwood district has been known for about 35 years to contain placer gold, but the source of the gold in veins was not discovered until about 1909. When the Alaska Railroad was completed through Girdwood it was hoped that the improved transportation facilities would enable the lode mines to operate at a profit and also to furnish tonnage to the railroad. Production from the quartz veins, however, has been negligible, although one placer mine has been operating steadily for several years.
The Richey-Lambert Coal Field, Richland and Dawson Counties, Montana
From abstract: The Richey-Lambert coal field is an area of about 900 square miles in Richland and Dawson Counties, eastern Montana, along the divide between the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. In this region only flat-lying continental rocks occur near the surface. About 300 feet of the Lebo shale member and about 930 feet of the coal-bearing Tongue River member of the Fort Union formation, of Eocene age, are exposed in the area. Deposits of terrace gravel at two levels in the field are tentatively correlated with the gravel on the Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan, which has been assigned to the Oligocene by the Canada Geological Survey, and with the Flaxville gravel, of upper Miocene or Pliocene age.
The Rosebud Coal Field, Rosebud and Custer Counties, Montana
From abstract: The Rosebud coal field, named from Rosebud Creek and the village of Rosebud, includes an area of about 1,050 square miles and forms a very small part of the subbituminous and lignite coal fields of eastern Montana and Wyoming and the western part of the Dakotas. It is an irregularly bounded tract lying south of the Yellowstone River in eastern Rosebud County and western Custer County and measures 50 miles from east to west and 28 miles from north to south. It adjoins the Forsyth coal field, on the west, the Ashland coal field, on the south, and the Miles City coal field, in part, on the north.
Geology and Mineral Resources of North-Central Chouteau, Western Hill, and Eastern Liberty Counties, Montana
From abstract: This report describes a rectangular area of about 2,600 square miles in Chouteau, Hill, and Liberty Counties, Mont., adjacent to the international boundary. The area is a portion of the Missouri Plateau, a section of the Great Plains province, and lies between the Highwood Mountains, Bearpaw Mountains, and Sweetgrass Hills, of north-central Montana. The southern part of the area is drained by the Missouri River and its tributary Marias River, but the northern part is drained by the Milk River. These streams are trenched in narrow valleys several hundred feet deep. The land surface between them is a rolling plain interrupted by very broad, shallow valleys that probably were eroded during the Pleistocene epoch by large streams whose courses were doubtless diverted from time to time by the continental glaciers. These valleys are now occupied only by very small creeks.
Geology and Coal, Oil and Gas Resources of the New Kensington Quadrangle, Pennsylvania
From abstract: This report is one of a series of publications by the United States Geological Survey on the Appalachian coal, oil, and gas fields. The area described occupies 227 square miles in Allegheny, Butler, and Westmoreland Counties, in western Pennsylvania, immediately north of Pittsburgh.
The Contact Mining District, Nevada
From abstract: This report summarizes the results of a reexamination, in 1930, of the Contact mining district, in Elko County, northern Nevada. A report published as a result of a visit in 1910 summarizes the major features of the geology of the district, and the principal new data in the present paper pertain to mining development occasioned by the completion of a railroad through the camp in 1925.
Geology and Fuel Resources of the Southern Part of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico: Part 1. The Coal Field From Gallup Eastward Towart Mount Taylor, with a Measured Section of Pre-Dakota(?) Rocks Near Navajo Church
From abstract: The report describes the geology and coal deposits of the southwestern part of the San Juan Basin, N.Mex. The field lies northeast of the town of Gallup, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, and is an irregular tract of about 630 square miles in central and west-central McKinley County; it includes the southeast corner of the Navajo Indian Reservation.
Geology and Ore Deposits of the Takilma-Waldo District, Oregon: Including the Blue Creek District
From Abstract: Two areas and their included mineral deposits, situated in Josephine County, southwestern Oregon, are described in this report. They lie within the Klamath Mountains, a region which is made up for the most part of rugged ridges trending in various directions but which, when viewed from higher summits, resembles a dissected plateau and is known as the Klamath peneplain. Rocks of both igneous and sedimentary origin are abundant in the districts described. The marine sedimentary rocks of the areas comprise a thick series of Carboniferous strata, with some interbedded volcanic rocks, and portions of the Galice formation, of Jurassic age, and of an Upper Cretaceous formation. The rocks of fluviatile origin include Tertiary conglomerate, Pleistocene valley fill, termed the " Llano de Oro formation," and somewhat later Pleistocene gravel and alluvium, in part glacial debris. Recent gravel is found along the present streams. The igneous rocks include several varieties of greenstone of probable Paleozoic and Mesozoic age and serpentine of late Jurassic or early Cretaceous age.
Mineral industry of Alaska in 1934
From Introduction: "The value of its mineral resources has long been recognized as a matter of concern in the welfare of every nation, and all wise governments almost from time immemorial have taken steps to find out about, utilize, and safeguard such of these natural resources as lie within their own boundaries or to acquire rights in those they need that lie outside those boundaries. Obviously one of these lines concerns itself with the record of present performance-how much of the different mineral commodities is the country at present producing, where does this production come from and what are the facts as to the current developments in the industry? To answer some of these questions authoritatively is part of the work of the Alaskan branch of the Geological Survey, and answers to those questions for the year 1934 are given in the accompanying report."
Past Placer-Gold Production from Alaska
"To the end of 1930 Alaska, according to the records of the Geological Survey, had produced placer gold to the value of $258,962,000 from mines widely scattered throughout its length and breadth. The distribution of the placers from which the gold was recovered has been stated in more or less detail in the annual summaries published by the Geological Survey on the mineral industry of Alaska and also in its more complete reports on many of the individual mining districts. Although these summaries and reports have furnished information regarding the larger regions, they have not always given specific details regarding the smaller districts. Furthermore, there has been no recent attempt to assemble and publish in one place the scattered statistics regarding the placer-gold production by years and by regions and districts. The purpose of the present report is to set forth in condensed but comprehensive form a summary of the placer-gold production of Alaska so far as it can be determined from the available official records."
Geology of the Santa Rita Mining Area, New Mexico
From abstract: The Santa Rita mining area (pl. 1), covering 35 square miles of semiarid mountainous land, lies within the Silver City 30-minute quadrangle, Grant County, N. Mex., and includes the most productive part of the Central or Hanover mining district. Ore was produced in this district as early as 1804 and production continued intermittently for a century before the developments were undertaken that led to large-scale copper mining, which began in 1912. The output of zinc, lead, and iron increased markedly about the same time.
The Curry District, Alaska
From abstract: The Curry district lies on the south flank of the Alaska Range, on the southeast side of Mount McKinley. Most of it is west of the Alaska Railroad. The eastern portion can be easily reached from several points along the railroad route, but the western portion is much more difficult of access, owing to the numerous glacial streams and the rugged topography. The relief of the area is great, the elevation ranging from 500 feet along the Chulitna River to 20,300 feet at Mount McKinley. The Chulitna River, a tributary of the Susitna River, drains the larger part of the area described. It flows in a broad valley in the eastern part of the district, and here the maximum relief is about 3,000 feet. The western part of the district is very rugged, with numerous peaks over 6,000 feet in elevation which have sheer slopes and almost unscalable pinnacles. Winding down through this maze of rugged mountains are four major valley glaciers-Eldridge, Buckskin, Ruth, and Tokichitna-and many tributary and smaller glaciers. Practically the entire district, with the exception of the higher peaks and ridges, has been glaciated. Timber grows along the main streams and extends to an elevation of 2,000 feet, but a large portion of the district lies above that elevation.
Core Drilling for Coal in the Moose Creek Area, Alaska
From abstract: The Moose Creek area is in the western part of the Matanuska Valley, in south-central Alaska, about 165 miles by railroad north of the coast at Seward. Coal deposits in the valley have been known since the early 1890's, and there have been producing mines since 1916, but the annual production is only about 40,000 tons, or less than one-third of the total amount consumed in the Territory. Early in 1931 Congress authorized the investigation of mineral resources in areas tributary to the Alaska Railroad, which is Government owned and operated, for the purpose of stimulating development and hence increasing the traffic and revenue of the railroad. The technical work of carrying on these studies was entrusted by Col. O. F. Ohlson, general manager of the railroad, to the United States Geological Survey. One of the investigations undertaken was that of the Moose Creek area, where small coal mines are in operation. Difficulties have been encountered in these mines, owing to the faulted character of the formation, which causes unproductive work in mining and also produces a large percentage of fine coal, which is unsuitable for sale in distant markets. Field examination indicated that more favorable mining conditions might be found somewhat farther west. Core drilling was therefore done in 1932, in order to learn if workable beds of coal were present that might he mined at less cost and produce a better product than the present mines for competitive sale in markets of the Pacific coast.
Lode Deposits of Eureka and Vicinity, Kantishna District, Alaska
From abstract: The Kantishna mining district is about 90 miles west of McKinley Park station on the Alaska Railroad. The part of the district covered by this report comprises an area of about 72 square miles in the form of a strip 6 miles wide and 13 miles long. The bedrock is mainly a metamorphic series of rocks which within the area has been differentiated into a quartz-muscovite schist and a calcareous faces that ranges from limestone to chlorite schist. A few small dikes of quartz porphyry and diabase intrude the schist. The general structure trends N. 700 E., and from an axis that extends from Eldorado Creek northeastward to Spruce Peak the schistosity dips to the northwest and southeast. It is along this axis that the heaviest mineralization has occurred.
Geology and Oil Resources of the Elk Hills, California: Including Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbers 1
From introduction: The purpose of this report is to describe the geology of the Elk Hills and the occurrence of the oil and gas, to trace the movements of oil, gas, and water in the developed areas, and to discuss the oil possibilities of the undeveloped parts. The history of the field and its production also are set forth.
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